Bug? Parallels 7 and Mission Control in Lion

S

stoli412

Member
I thought Parallels 7 would be better integrated with Mission Control in Lion. I was expecting each application running under Windows to be its own application in Mission Control. However all windows are still being grouped as Parallels Desktop, which makes it significantly less useful.

The first new feature listed for Parallels 7 is:
New! Lion integration and support, including Launchpad and Mission Control for Windows programs

Am I doing something wrong here?
 
Yes, I think the problems are related. Even though Parallels creates separate applications for all Windows programs, all the windows themselves are still grouped under Parallels Desktop, so it makes Mission Control and switching between spaces and apps not work as expected. I'm surprised this hasn't been corrected under version 7 since Lion features and compatibility is what's being pushed the most. I'm a bit annoyed that I've been suckered into ponying up $50 for an upgrade that isn't really much of an upgrade (and a downgrade in certain cases...like folks who run full screen with multiple monitors).
 
How to fix this...

Guys, just right-click the Parallels icon in your dock, select options > assign to all desktops. Shut down the app and restart it, should work fine. Also, when starting a VM, don't navigate away until it starts up. The combination of these two things has it working just fine for me.

Very surprised that nobody from Parallels gave this advice.
 
That doesn't fix my problem. In Mission Control all Windows programs are still grouped under Parallels Desktop instead of their individual programs, making Mission Control much less useful. If I have Internet Explorer windows open and MS Word windows open, I don't want them all grouped together when I launch Mission Control. I want them to appear as separate apps so I can more easily select what I need.

Take a look at the attached screenshot to see what I mean.

Screen%252520Shot%2525202011-09-02%252520at%2525206.05.43%252520PM.png
 
I just wanted to add a +1 here. I would expect each application to be a separate item in Mission Control, and I am seeing all of my Windows apps grouped under "Parallels Desktop" in Mission Control. I'm comparing Parallels and VMware Fusion 4, and I notice that in Fusion 4 the apps are showing up separately, so it should be possible. Hopefully it can be included in an update soon!
 
I'm definitely in for adding a +1 on this... I was *really* excited for this feature and it doesn't even seem to exist (even though they say it does). Why is there no info on this from the Parallels team!?
 
I don't see any difference to the Mission Control support in Parallels Desktop 6, too. Overall I'm very dissapointed of the new version, which seems more like an update to me. I don't know if I will upgrade after the trial period ends...
 
Yeah, I'm disappointed also. Specially because the Parallels 7 marketing explicitly mentioned that Mission Control works with Windows applications. Unfortunately it seems that it works only as much as Parallels 6 worked. I'm not upgrading.
 
Still not working. No word from Parallels team.

Downloaded the update with hopes this would be fixed. It's not. This is so extremely frustrating it is ridiculous.

What is more frustrating? That the Parallels team HASN'T EVEN ACKNOWLEDGED the issue. What the hell is up with that?
 
Same old line!!

I recently opened a case asking what they meant by "Parallels Desktop 7 for Mac works with Lion, the latest Mac OS X. From Multi-Touch gestures, Mission Control,". I asked what the difference is from 6 to 7 because it does not fully support mission control.
Their answer is,

"as the Windows applications are launched inside the Virtual Machine, it is grouped into one category so that we can make out the difference between Mac applications in Mission Control."

What a line of BS. This is false advertisement! I asked how I can get a refund. I wasted my money because there is really no difference that I can notice from 6 to 7.
 
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That is a total line of BS! If each Windows app can have its own icon on the dock, in the app switcher, etc, then why can't its windows be grouped individually in Mission Control? VMware is able to do this, so why can't Parallels?!

It's really frustrating to try to use Mission Control to switch between tasks when all your Windows apps are bunched together. It's a huge hit to workflow and usability.

I guess they want us to wait and pay another upgrade fee to Parallels 8 before this works properly.
 
I tried Fusion, but I found it to be slower and it has a lot of redraw problems in Unity mode. Parallels is a much better product...if only they would fix this bug!
 
spar7y said:
Downloaded the update with hopes this would be fixed. It's not. This is so extremely frustrating it is ridiculous.

What is more frustrating? That the Parallels team HASN'T EVEN ACKNOWLEDGED the issue. What the hell is up with that?
Click to expand...

FWIW, Parallels Support rarely gets involved in any postings on the forum. I'd be shocked if they participated in this one. They should, but they don't....

I'm having problems where the whole app doesn't obey the desktop settings for mission control. Not window by window, but the entire app which is assigned to "desktop 2" is always coming up on Desktop 1.... Anybody else seeing that problem?

Steve
 
DJK said:
Guys, just right-click the Parallels icon in your dock, select options > assign to all desktops. Shut down the app and restart it, should work fine. Also, when starting a VM, don't navigate away until it starts up. The combination of these two things has it working just fine for me.

Very surprised that nobody from Parallels gave this advice.
Click to expand...

Bingo! Thanks man! I'd have 3 desktops open. Launch Parallels in the third. It would auto jump to the second, but open the VM in the first. Can't get any goofier than that. It was driving me crazy! But problem solved. Other than that, I've had no issues with 10.7.2 and PD 7.0.15054

wink

[edit]

Nope, spoke too soon. It launched and opened the VM in the desktop I had active, but it appears in all the desktops with that setting. That's way worse, and completely misses the point of Mission Control. This is a serious flaw in either PD and/or MC. Sure hope it gets fixed soon... Back to manually adjusting the apps to the desktops... ;-(

wink
 
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